Croatia GDP Q2 2016

Croatia: GDP growth speeds up slightly in Q2

August 31, 2016

GDP expanded 2.8% in Q2 over the same quarter last year, according to preliminary figures released by the Croatian Bureau of Statistics on 31 August. The reading was slightly up from the 2.7% growth in Q1.

The acceleration in Q2 came on the back of faster growth in both government consumption and fixed investment, while private consumption growth remained broadly stable. Private consumption increased 3.0% over the same quarter last year, virtually mirroring Q1’s 3.1% growth. Government consumption grew 2.6% annually, which represented a remarkable speedup compared to Q1’s 0.6% growth as well as the highest rate since Q2 2009. Fixed investment accelerated notably, rising 6.3% and so improving over Q1’s 4.3% annual increase. The reading represented the best result since Q3 2008.

On the external side of the economy, exports of goods and services grew 4.1% in Q2, which was a deceleration from the 7.1% expansion recorded in Q1, while imports rose 6.7% (Q1: +6.1% year-on-year). As imports accelerated while exports slowed, the external sector’s net contribution to overall economic growth deteriorated in Q2, falling from minus 0.2 percentage points in Q1 to minus 1.4 percentage points in Q2, marking the worst result in three years.

FocusEconomics panelists expect GDP to rise 1.9% in 2016, which is up 0.1 percentage points from last month’s estimate. In 2017, the panel expects economic growth to accelerate to 2.0%.

Newsletter Subscription

Croatia Economic News

Industrial output dropped 2.5% in working-day adjusted terms from the same month last year in December, a sharper contraction from November’s 1.7% drop and marking the worst result in almost three years.
December’s result was dragged down by contractions in the mining and quarrying, and manufacturing sectors.

Industrial output dropped 1.6% in working-day adjusted terms from the same month last year in November, strongly contrasting October’s 4.3% expansion and marking the worst result in almost three years.
November’s result was dragged down by contractions in the electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning and manufacturing sectors.

The economy gained traction in the third quarter of 2017, supported by a surge in fixed investment and solid household spending, despite the uncertainty still surrounding the restructuring of Croatia’s largest private company, food giant Agrokor.